


Lucky

by absurdiist (workthewentz)



Series: Stucky Tumblr AUs [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-27 16:11:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8408152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/workthewentz/pseuds/absurdiist
Summary: He put one hand on his hip and gestured with the other to the milk on the cereal shelf. "Usually I wouldn't say anything, but it's been a really long day, and I have asthma and my feet hurt, and walking back and forth across the store to replace items so they don't go bad is really not how I wanted to spend my night."Or, the “you keep putting down items you don’t want all over the store and usually I wouldn’t say anything but it’s my job to replace them so can you please stop doing this thanks” grocery store AU.





	

Steve ran his long, bony fingers over the price tags on the shelf, double-checking that he had correctly entered the new sale prices into the gun. He muttered numbers to himself, his voice echoing in the empty store. As he walked down the aisle, he noticed something bright green, completely out of place among the cereal boxes. 

He crossed the aisle to take a closer look at the perpetrating vegetable. It was a huge head of lettuce, sitting right where the Lucky Charms were supposed to be. Steve groaned and tucked the lettuce under his arm, intending to return it to the produce section. 

When he had crossed the entire store and placed the lettuce with all the other perishable foods, he noticed something out of place again. It was a cereal box. A box of Lucky Charms was sitting on the edge of the lettuce bin. Steve glanced around, wondering if it was one of his coworkers, teasing him since he was one of the only people in the store this late at night.

Steve had been forced to take on extra shifts at the grocery store to cover rent since Sam moved in with Natasha, and his coworkers knew this and were nice about letting him take over their shifts when he asked. The new manager Brock, however, saw him as an easy target and considered it his personal mission to make Steve's life a living hell. What this vendetta was about, Steve had no idea, but there was constantly a task for him to do: shelves he had to restock even though he'd just done it ten minutes ago, a broken register that needed to be dealt with, a customer having a temper tantrum. So, essentially, Steve wouldn't be surprised if Brock was making him walk across the store multiple times just to mess with him. The problem was that he had asthma, and the hours on his feet, stocking shelves without a break, were starting to exhaust him.

Upon reaching the cereal aisle again, Steve noticed a guy at the end of the row staring at the cereal boxes. He had one in each of his hands and couldn't seem to make up his mind. Steve replaced the Lucky Charms and watched the guy contemplate which cereal to buy. He was about to ask if the guy needed help when he seemed to come to a decision. He replaced both boxes, then reached into his handheld basket, pulled out the half gallon of milk, and sat it in front of the cereal boxes.

Steve was at the end of his patience. "Hey!" He called from the end of the aisle as he started to walk over. The guy looked up, startled, and Steve's irritation nearly dissipated. 

The guy was, well, pretty good looking. He had long hair that hung out of the bottom of his baseball cap like a curtain. His bottom lip was redder than his top one, like he'd been biting on it recently. He was dressed in layers against the cold outside, but Steve noticed that only one hand, his left, had a leather glove covering it. Steve didn't want to get too close, but the guy's eyes were obviously some sort of pretty greenish-grayish-blue. But Steve wasn't letting himself get distracted.

"I need you to stop doing that." The guy just continued looking startled, his eyebrows bunching up in confusion. It was a pretty nice expression on his face, Steve thought.

"Doing what?" And, oh, his voice was deep and confused, the lilt of the question nearly startling Steve out of his bad mood.

But instead of letting it go, he put one hand on his hip and gestured with the other to the milk on the cereal shelf. "Usually I wouldn't say anything, but it's been a really long day, and I have asthma and my feet hurt, and walking back and forth across the store to replace items so they don't go bad is really not how I wanted to spend my night." 

The guy's ears turned red; he obviously hadn't thought of that. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "I usually don't do that. I just can't seem to decide what to get. It's like my brain is on overdrive." He was visibly embarrassed, and now Steve felt bad about going off on the guy. "I'll put it back."

Steve's head now ached. "No, listen, no harm no foul. Just – put your stuff back next time." He reached up past the guy and took the milk off the shelf, turning around and walking back out of the aisle towards the dairy section. He noticed the guy following him. 

"You don't have to come with me," he said. Really the guy's presence just unsettled him; he was good-looking and he seemed nice enough, but Steve didn't want to make a habit of crushing on grocery store patrons. 

"No, see, now I feel bad. You've been walking around picking up behind me and I've just been throwing stuff around," the guy said. He was still quiet, but the muttering had been replaced with confident banter that was just honest enough not to feel sarcastic.

"It's okay – wait, what else did you put back?" They'd reached the dairy now, and Steve placed the jug back into the refrigerator.

"Well, you might wanna check the pasta aisle for deli meat." Steve turned to look at the guy, unimpressed, but he was grinning and Steve realized that he was joking. And, yeah, Steve might end up making a habit of crushing on patrons because this guy's smile was infectious, and Steve found himself grinning back despite his bad mood. 

"Can you check me out?" The guy asked. Steve raised his eyebrows. "I can't work those self-checkout machines for the life of me." Steve's smile turned into a laugh. The self-checkout machines never worked; they were pretty much a waste of time. 

"Yeah, c'mon." 

They walked back to the front of the store, the guy trailing behind Steve. Steve held his hand out for the guy's basket, scanning while going through the requirements of store policy. "Do you have a card with us?" He asked. The guy shook his head no. "Would you like one?" He shook his head yes. "Just put your info in on the keypad there." Once he was finished, Steve turned to his own screen to double check it. _Bucky_ _Barnes_ flashed on the screen as the guy's name. "Bucky?" Steve asked, disbelieving. 

The guy – who had the name of a pony, or maybe a stuffed animal, apparently – threw his head back and laughed. "It's a nickname. My real name is James, but I really hate it. It sounds so old." 

Steve was even more incredulous. "How do you get Bucky out of James?" He was afraid that he was poking too much into this guy's life, but Bucky didn't seem to mind. He found it amusing.

"James Buchanan Barnes," he managed to get out, and tipped his baseball cap, making himself laugh harder. Once he had composed himself, he pointed at Steve's name tag. "What about you? Steve seems a little generic to be your real name. What is it, Conrad? Henry? Roger?" 

Steve snorted, not sure if Bucky's choice of names was a compliment or not. "You're close. It's Steven Rogers." He wrinkled his nose. "So yeah, really generic. ($14.57.) Kinda matches me, though." 

Bucky looked affronted as he handed Steve his credit card. "There's nothing generic about you." Steve blushed, taking the reciept out of the printer and handing it to Bucky along with his card. "Hold on," he said before Bucky could reach for it, and snatched it back. He pulled a pen from the table in front of him and wrote his phone number on the reciept, along with a smiley face. When he handed it back to Bucky, he barked out a joyous laugh and grabbed his bags. 

"Catch you later, Steve," Bucky called as he walked out of the store. He passed by Sharon, who was just about to start her shift. She looked over her shoulder and gave him an appreciative once-over.

She walked over to Steve, who was stowing his work apron in the cabinet underneath his register. "Who's tall, dark, and handsome?" Steve's phone pinged in his back pocket. He pulled it out and glanced at the text he had just recieved. 

 _'So I would invite you over for breakfast tomorrow, but I don't have any milk.'_  A smile broke out on his face and another text came through. _'IHOP?'_

Steve typed out his reply immediately.  _'IHOP it is.'_

He realized Sharon was still staring at him expectantly, waiting for an answer. "His name is Bucky."

Sharon stared at him. "You've got to be kidding me."

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr @ absurdiist.tumblr.com :)


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